Drought in Europe makes wheat much more expensive
The drought makes wheat considerably more expensive. At the Matif commodity futures exchange in Paris, which is important for the European market, the price of wheat rose by 20 percent to over 200 euros per tonne from May to the end of July. This was reported on Thursday by Klaus Josef Lutz, CEO of Europe's largest agricultural retailer Baywa. In addition, the worldwide harvest volume will be lower than in the previous year. The Baywa expects about 736 million tons of wheat to be harvested around the globe - a minus of three percent.
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What this means for the retail trade, Lutz did not say in Munich. Experience has shown, however, that rising producer prices for wheat affect the prices for bread and other bakery products at intervals.
US President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policy has obviously unpleasant consequences for US soybean farmers in the form of falling producer prices. Soybeans are one of the most important raw materials for animal feed, China has imposed punitive tariffs on US soy as a retaliation against Trump's duties. This is why Baywa - according to Lutz, the world's largest soybean exporter - can now buy comparatively cheaply in the USA.
The Baywa itself had another effect in the first half of the year: Pre-tax profit fell by more than half year-on-year to EUR 32 million due to poor business with renewable energies at the beginning of the year. However, sales increased by almost three percent to 8.3 billion euros. Lutz is optimistic for the rest of the year/cho/DP/jha (dpa)
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